CAMBEWARRA show jumper Jamie Priestley has continued her assault on the equestrian world this week as she prepares to compete in an international showjumping event in the Netherlands.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 15-year-old Nowra Anglican College student competed in the Sydney World Cup over the weekend before flying to the Netherlands to compete.
Priestley scored an invite to the event to be held in the Indoor Sports Centre in Eindhoven after she impressed while competing in Germany in July.
Priestley arrives in the Netherlands this week and will spend her first week training before competing at the international indoor show.
It will also be a week of acclimatising for Priestley, who will swap the Australian summer for the European winter and be atop a unfamiliar horse.
“It is going to be about zero to five degrees, so I am really going to have to rug up,” she laughed.
“But the event will be held indoors so I will still wear my normal riding gear.”
Although Priestley said she had no clear competition goals, she definitely aims to use the trip for education purposes and experience.
“I want to know what the horses are like over there and learn new things from the people over there about training, bring this home and use it for my own horses,” she said.
Priestley has had a busy past month, competing in some prestigious Australian competitions before her overseas adventure.
She competed in a world cup show in Wodonga three weeks ago to claim first in the first round of the junior event and second in the junior championships riding Classic Act.
She also competed in an open class Talent Spotters or Stars of the Future event.
Despite being the youngest in the event, Priestley on Optimus placed fourth.
She then went on to compete at the world cup show in Shepparton, Victoria.
Priestley joined 110 other riders in the Talent Spotters or Stars of the Future event.
Competitors battled it out for over five hours, while Priestley jumped three perfect rounds to win an impressive bronze medal in a star studded field of riders.
Priestley capped off an impressive weekend by claiming gold in the junior grand prix championships.
Priestley, among a field of top riders from all over the country, blitzed the competition and won the final in thrilling circumstances to add gold to her medal tally.
In the Sydney World Cup last weekend Priestley qualified both her horses into the top 20 out of 60 competitors.
She not only placed first in the final but second as well, the first junior rider to
do so.
